CCTV News:On the eve of the NATO Defense Ministers’ Meeting, the U.S. Ambassador to NATO Kay Bailey hutcheson accused Russia of "secretly developing prohibited medium-range missiles", and declared that if Russia did not immediately stop its research and development, the United States would consider "preemptive strike" and destroy it. The Russian Foreign Ministry responded that hutcheson’s remarks were "very dangerous".
Hutcheson No.2 said at a press conference in Brussels that the United States has evidence that Russia violated Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in 1987 and has made representations to Russia many times; If Russia continues to develop medium-range missiles, the United States will consider launching a military strike to "remove missiles that can hit the United States."
Reuters’s report pointed out that the United States said last year that it would also develop medium-range missiles if Russia continued to violate Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty — — Hutcheson II’s statement is the most direct warning that the United States will launch a "preemptive strike" against Russia so far.
In response to hutcheson’s speech, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Zacharova No.2 said that hutcheson "doesn’t seem to know" his identity and the danger of making such offensive remarks.
Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty’s full name is the Treaty between the Soviet Union and the United States on the Elimination of Intermediate-range and Short-range Missiles between the Two Countries, which was signed by the United States and the Soviet Union on December 8, 1987. The treaty stipulates that the two countries will no longer keep, produce or test land-based cruise missiles and ballistic missiles with a range of 500 km to 5,500 km. In recent years, the United States and Russia have repeatedly accused each other of violating the treaty, and the United States even threatened to withdraw from Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty just like the Treaty on the Limitation of Anti-Ballistic Missile Systems signed by the United States and the Soviet Union in 1972.